远离尘嚣.docx

远离尘嚣
作者:哈代
豆丁书城

1
Gabriel Oak falls in love

Gabriel Oak was a sensible man of good character, who had been brought up by his father as a shepherd, and then managed to save enough money to rent his own farm on be Hill,in Dorset. He was twenty-eight,a tall,well-built man,who did not seem,however,to think his appear-ance was very important.
One winter morning he was in one of his fields on the side of be Hill . Looking over his gate,Gabriel could see a yellow cart,loaded with furniture and ing up the road. Right on top of the pile sat a handsome young woman As Gabriel was watching,the cart stopped at the top of the hill,and the driver climbed down to go back and fetch some-thing that had fallen off.
The girl sat quietly in the sunshine for a few minutes. Then she picked up a parcel lying next to her,and looked round to see if the driver ing back. There was no sign of him. She unwrapped the parcel,and took out the mirror it con-tained. The sun shone on her lovely face and hair. Although it was December,she looked almost summery,sitting there in her bright red jacket with the fresh green plants around her. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled,thinking that only the birds could see her. But behind the gate Gabriel Oak was watching too.
‘She must be rather vain,’he thought. ‘She doesn't need to look in that mirror at all! ’
As the girl smiled and blushed at herself,she seemed to be dreaming,dreaming perhaps of men's hearts won and lost. When she heard the driver's footsteps,she packed the mirror away. The cart moved on downhill to the toll-gate. Gabriel followed on foot. As he came closer he could hear the driver arguing with the gatekeeper.
‘My mistress's niece,that's her on top of the furniture,is not going to pay you the extra twopence ,’said the driver. ‘She says she's offered you quite enough already. ’
‘Well,if she doesn't pay the toll,your mistress's niece can't pass through the gate,’replied the gatekeeper.
Gabriel thought that twopence